Chapter 86 - Illusion

But what's going on? Just who are the people in front of me? Aren't they just an ordinary squad? How do they turn the world upside down? Even to the point of annihilating the five major organizations? Narukami thought to himself in alarm as question after question popped up in his mind.

"Oi, what's wrong, Narukami?" One of the guys said as he noticed Narukami sitting on the floor as he leaned against the wall.

Narukami replied unhurriedly, "yeah, I'm okay, I suddenly felt tired."

The captain of the squad frowned as he yelled, "everyone! Stay on guard and don't be careless! If anyone suddenly feels tired and can't stand anymore, don't force yourself or you will be nothing but a burden!"

"Yes!"

The captain then retracted his gaze to Narukami and said calmly, "Can you stand?"

"Yeah, it's no problem. Thanks for worrying me." Narukami lean his arm against the wall as a support as he raised himself, from sitting to standing.

Should I kill them? Narukami abruptly thought as he swept his gaze over the fifteen people with narrowed eyes filled with a light glint of killing intent.

"Narukami, what's wrong?" The captain asked with a frown.

Even though faint, I sense a killing intent nearby, is it from him? He pondered inwardly as he increased his guard.

An event where fellow Sorcerers killing each other wasn't rare. This was because in a mysterious and unknown room like this one.

One's mind could be in chaos, hallucinating, and couldn't differentiate between what's real and what's not.

No, I must find out the reason why these people magically get stronger, that they descend the world into chaos, Narukami said inwardly.

Killing people without a clear reason was taboo for him. Even if it was for the greater good, he wasn't sure of it.

Furthermore, there was a chance that the scene he just saw was simply an illusion projected from this library.

Causing him to lose his trust in these people and simultaneously, this results in his mind becoming chaos.

In this aspect, the only choice was to think calmly and thoroughly. A single misstep could lead to him killing these people or the other way around.

"Captain, I have something to tell you." Narukami's voice out of nowhere sounded in his head. The captain frowned slightly but soon figured out that it was from Narukami. The latter was using spiritual transmission

"What's wrong? Why does it have to be from the spiritual transmission? Why don't you talk it out loud?" The captain asked.

"This is regarding what I want to tell you. Captain, I just sa-"

"Stop, before you continue, don't call me captain. We're in the same position. It feels strange."

Narukami nodded in acknowledgment and said calmly, "very well, Hyoga-san. What I want to tell you is that I just saw an illusion. If I was careless, I would probably kill all of you already.

"To avoid falling into the illusion, I suggest that all of the people here cloak themselves in spiritual energy. That way, even if they still fall, they could still at least be aware they are in an illusion.

"Thus preventing further casualties."

Hyoga listened to him intently and asked, "why did you directly tell me this instead of to them?"

Hyoga was amazed by Narukami's quick approach and decision-making.

At first, he was in doubt when he heard that Narukami found all the clues regarding the mastermind and the truth behind the Mabashi Shrine accident by himself but after he heard his quick decision making and fast at comprehending the matter, even found a solution the moment later.

Hyugo was both amazed and impressed.

"I don't like to stand out," Narukami simply replied.

His reply made him fail to utter anything. Out of all the answers he anticipated, not once did he expect that.

Hyugo abruptly laughed and patted Narukami's shoulders a few times.

His laugh attracted his squad members' attention and they looked at each other in confusion. After that, some shrugged their shoulders.

"Captain, is something wrong?" One of the guys asked worriedly as he approached his captain.

"Nothing, I just remembered something funny, nothing to worry about at all!"

He turned his body around to his squad members and spoke out loud, "Listen, everyone! Covered yourselves in spiritual energy to avoid falling into an illusion. If you still fall, at least you're aware you're in it."

"Yes!" All of them replied solemnly, not daring to take his words as a joke.

Hyugo nodded as he was satisfied.

"The library is bigger than we thought. It's unknown what may happen here, perhaps you could die without knowing the reason so let's play it safe than sorry.

"Separate into three teams of five members. Investigate the library and once find anything peculiar and strange. Use spiritual transmission so as to inform me." Hyugo explained his plan and none opposed what he said.

"Yes!"

Hyugo began to set up the teams manually as he pointed his index finger to five people, before saying they would be a team. He did so two more times and Narukami ended up in Hyugo's team.

The library was vast and dark, it would probably take a whole year to know the ins and outs of this place, five years if not.

"Narukami, what do you think of this place?" Hyugo's eyebrows frowned as he wondered.

"Not much, we just entered and the information given by All Beyond is quite limited, I couldn't give you anything." Narukami shook his head.

Hyugo nodded as he said, "that's especially true of All Beyond's lack of information."

"All Beyond is skillful when it comes to the flow of information. Their connections are located around the world but seeing how this place managed to escape from them, I don't know if this is a good thing or not." He added.

Narukami paused for a short moment as he spoke, "It's not their fault either, looking at the books here. They are here before Japan's first shogun. I don't know what technology they use to create it. They are exactly as they are now, books in modern times."

Hyoga frowned as he stopped his pace. Then, he grabbed a book as carefully as picking up a fragile baby. Seemingly afraid of putting too much force, causing the baby to be hurt.

"If the book is the same like I said, these books should be turned to ashes the moment you touch it. Let alone grasping it in your hands."

However, contrary to his words. Hyugo managed to grab one and even open it! Narukami's eyes slightly went wide.

Flipping the pages unhurriedly, Hyoga read its contents and in midway, he stopped as he closed the book.

"It's a novel about someone who travels to nine realms in nine days," he informed Narukami as he continued to walk.

"Looking at the cover, it seems like you said but there were many books from different eras and there are even books written in many foreign languages," he concluded after picking up a few books as he occasionally stopped, reading a few pages and putting it back.

The same goes for Narukami.

"English, Mandarin, German, and others that I don't recognize."

"They are written in Greek, Hindi, Arabic, Finnish, and Icelandic," Narukami said as he pointed out the books.

"These books are ordinary, how did the previous Sorcerers enter this place even disappeared?" Hyugo expressed his doubt as he pinched his chin.

"Perhaps there is another thing that causes them to disappear, not these books," one of the guys in Hyoga's team speculated.

"Something else? What do you think, Narukami?"

Why did you give the question to me? Narukami asked himself and answer nevertheless.

"Perhaps they enter the deepest part of the library or accidentally fell into something. Like into a pit of spikes.

"This library isn't normal. The fact it was built deep underground proves that. The owner of the library seemed to like collect books and didn't want them to be lost in age, thus storing them here.

"But that's probably only the cover, it's probably hiding something precious than one imagined.

"Say these to them, Hyoga-san. Thank you!"

Hyoga's mouth twitched, this was perhaps the first time he saw someone who disdained to be stand out.

Hyoga turned his head to the three members of his team and explained the exact thing as Narukami just said.

The members looked at Hyoga in admiration. To think their Captain would know this much from a glance but why he always looked at Narukami? They probably thought.

Narukami's name was no stranger to everyone in the branch, almost every Sorcerer knew what his accomplishments were but many were in doubt about it.

Now they were here, these three people were hoping to see Narukami in action but seeing only their captain do the deduction, let them down by a great deal.

However, after hearing their captain being smart and capable all of the sudden, they were rather happy and no one suspect anything.

They attribute it as the captain just being serious.